Pedestrian Fatalities Spiked in 2016

Pedestrian Fatalities Spiked in 2016

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Smith Law Office

A pedestrian was killed in a car accident in Kansas City in the first hours of Monday, May 8, 2017. While details surrounding the accident are still emerging that could raise questions about how the accident happened, the fatality highlights the dangers that pedestrians face on a daily basis.

Car Accident Kills Pedestrian in Kansas City

The truck accident happened just after 1:30am on Monday, May 8, 2017. According to initial reports released by police, a tractor-trailer truck was traveling southbound on Interstate 29, between Interstate 635 and 56th Street, when it hit someone walking on the highway. The pedestrian was killed in the crash, which was reported to the police by the truck driver.

Police are still investigating the accident, and shut down a section of the highway soon after the crash in order to piece together what had happened. It’s unclear why the pedestrian was on the highway, where walking traffic is normally prohibited.

This fatal accident in Kansas City, though, highlights a disturbing nationwide trend – pedestrians are being killed in traffic accidents at alarming rates.

Pedestrian Deaths Have Spiked

As we detailed earlier in our blog, as a whole, traffic-related fatalities increased significantly in 2016. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), nearly 7% more people died on the roads in the United States during 2016 than in 2015. Worse, 2015 itself had seen a 7% increase over 2014. Together, the 14% increase in traffic-related fatalities is the largest two-year spike in more than fifty years.

Pedestrians, however, have faced even worse dangers. According to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), in 2016 alone, pedestrian deaths increased by 11%, up to nearly 6,000. The GHSA came to this number after comparing the number of pedestrian fatalities in the first six months of 2016 to the first six months of 2015, and then using historic trends to determine how many pedestrians were likely to be killed in the remaining months. If their estimates hold up to the numbers that are slowly trickling in, it would be the first time that more than 6,000 pedestrians were killed in the United States in a single year in more than two decades.

Missouri, however, is one of the bright spots in the GHSA’s study, lowing the number of pedestrian fatalities within our borders by 16% between 2015 and 2016.

St. Joseph Car Accident Attorneys at the Smith Law Office

Pedestrians are much more prone to suffering a severe or fatal personal injury in a car accident than drivers or passengers are. This is because vehicle occupants are protected by seatbelts, airbags, and other safety mechanisms, as well as thousands of pounds of plastic and metal. Pedestrians, on the other hand, are left almost entirely vulnerable.

If you or someone you love was walking down the street when a car crash happened, you need a personal injury attorney at your side to make sure you get the compensation that you deserve. Call the Smith Law Office in St. Joseph at (816) 875-9373 or contact us online.